A major overhaul of how the military prosecutes many types of crimes has the support of a majority of members of Congress—even clearing the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. But it’s likely to be dramatically scaled back in the $768 billion defense bill because of the opposition of the Defense Department and a minority of members of Congress that includes Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, a Democrat.
The plan would “professionalize how the military prosecutes serious crimes by moving the decision over whether to prosecute them to independent, experienced military prosecutors,” according to a press release from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has relentlessly pressed for the shift away from a system in which military commanders make prosecution decisions. Instead, though, the defense bill looks likely to include a more limited proposal focusing on sexual assault and related crimes.
That proposal is not enough, advocates for the more sweeping change said in a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees: ”Currently, only one-third of victims of sexual assault in the military are willing to come out of the shadows to report their crime. That shows a clear lack of trust in the current system’s ability to be unbiased and deliver justice without retribution. The only way we will be able to reassure victims that they will get an impartial review of their case is to make experienced judge advocates the convening authority in their cases. Without the duties inherent to convening authorities, the perception and reality of commanders influencing the outcome will be unavoidable.”
“Moreover, we’ve recently seen that despite a congressional mandate for the use of Special Victim Prosecutors (“SVP”), DoD relegates their involvement in many cases. The Special Victim Prosecutors provisions in this year’s NDAA alone will be insufficient to address the magnitude of the problem,” the letter continued.
The bipartisan letter signed by 44 senators and 22 members of the House noted that 29 state attorneys general—also a bipartisan group—support the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are also pointing out that there’s a racial justice issue here. Under the current system in which prosecution decisions are made by disproportionately white military commanders, Black and brown service members are disproportionately likely to be court-martialed for some offenses like fighting or theft. Members of the CBC are therefore pushing for a scaled-back version of the measure to include more offenses beyond sexual assault.
But after Senate Republicans blocked the National Defense Authorization Act, time is limited to get a bill through both the Senate and the House, and that’s often when crappy deals happen. ”Our reform has the bipartisan support of 66 senators and 220 House members,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “The only way it does not become law in the NDAA is if a handful of powerful men rip it out behind closed doors.”
The plan would “professionalize how the military prosecutes serious crimes by moving the decision over whether to prosecute them to independent, experienced military prosecutors,” according to a press release from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has relentlessly pressed for the shift away from a system in which military commanders make prosecution decisions. Instead, though, the defense bill looks likely to include a more limited proposal focusing on sexual assault and related crimes.
That proposal is not enough, advocates for the more sweeping change said in a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees: ”Currently, only one-third of victims of sexual assault in the military are willing to come out of the shadows to report their crime. That shows a clear lack of trust in the current system’s ability to be unbiased and deliver justice without retribution. The only way we will be able to reassure victims that they will get an impartial review of their case is to make experienced judge advocates the convening authority in their cases. Without the duties inherent to convening authorities, the perception and reality of commanders influencing the outcome will be unavoidable.”
“Moreover, we’ve recently seen that despite a congressional mandate for the use of Special Victim Prosecutors (“SVP”), DoD relegates their involvement in many cases. The Special Victim Prosecutors provisions in this year’s NDAA alone will be insufficient to address the magnitude of the problem,” the letter continued.
The bipartisan letter signed by 44 senators and 22 members of the House noted that 29 state attorneys general—also a bipartisan group—support the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are also pointing out that there’s a racial justice issue here. Under the current system in which prosecution decisions are made by disproportionately white military commanders, Black and brown service members are disproportionately likely to be court-martialed for some offenses like fighting or theft. Members of the CBC are therefore pushing for a scaled-back version of the measure to include more offenses beyond sexual assault.
But after Senate Republicans blocked the National Defense Authorization Act, time is limited to get a bill through both the Senate and the House, and that’s often when crappy deals happen. ”Our reform has the bipartisan support of 66 senators and 220 House members,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “The only way it does not become law in the NDAA is if a handful of powerful men rip it out behind closed doors.”